Promoting Discipline Specific Literacy for Law & Paralegal Studies Students: LibGuides as Transitional & Professional Tools

Authors

Marissa Moran, CUNY New York City College of TechnologyFollow
Kimberly Abrams, CUNY New York City College of TechnologyFollow

Document Type

Presentation

Publication Date

5-10-2019

Abstract

Developing LibGuides for Law and Paralegal Studies students at New York City College of Technology arose from the following question: how do we change the way legal studies students think of the Library as a resource to better assist them in their transition to college level-research and a future career as a paralegal. At the heart of this question is the importance of discipline-specific information literacy at the college and professional levels. Many students have difficulty with locating relevant information to complete course assignments partly because library resources are both fragmented and cohesive. Thus, while part of the transition to college level research is to learn to utilize the library, it is important to help students focus their research through discipline-specific LibGuides that cut through the noise of OneSearch and to provide a coherent and discipline-specific research strategy.

The LibGuide was tailored to the Law and Paralegal Studies program and provides targeted access to legal texts, articles, videos, tutorials, and links to professional organizations/associations, and databases. The intention of this guide is to provide a central destination where students can get more information about legal research and professional development.

Law and Paralegal Studies students were introduced to the initial LibGuide in their classes and there was a question and answer session following the demonstration. Thus information literacy is embedded throughout the Law and Paralegal courses to assist in the transition from introductory courses to advanced disciplinary research and career planning.

Comments

Presented at the 2019 CUNY Coordinated Undergraduate Education Conference, "Transforming Teaching into Learning," held at New York City College of Technology, Brooklyn, NY, May 10, 2019.